Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Ok, I think I need to explain what JW's believe before I give you the questions to ask. If you know what they believe, you may think of questions to ask that I can't think of. So here in a nutshell is what I have learned that JW's believe.

1.Armageddon: God will soon wage war against mankind, destroying everyone on earth except Jehovah's Witnesses. The churches of Christendom, they say, will be the first to be destroyed.

2.Birthdays: Celebrating a birthday in any manner is strickly forbidden. Even sending a birthday card can bring swift action against the offender by an official "judicial committee". The punishment is "disfellowshiping".

3. Blood Transfusions: In actual practice, JW's view accepting a blood transfusion as a sin more serious than theft or adultery. Thieves and adulterers are more quickly forgiven by Watchtower judicial committees than individuals found guilty of taking blood. A Witness must refuse blood in all circumstances, even when this is certain to result in death. The organization also requires adults to refuse transfusions for their minor children.

4. Christianity: Except for a few scattered individuals who kept the faith, true Christianity vanished fromthe face of the earth shortly after the death of the twelve apostles according to Jehovah's Witnesses. It was not restored until Charles Taze Russell set up the Watchtower Organization in the late 1870's. When Christ returned invisibly in 1914, he found Russell's group doing the work of the "faithful and wise servant" Matt. 24"25 and appointed them over all his belongings. All other churches and professed Christians are actually tools of the devil.

5. Christ's Return: The Lord returned invisibly in the year 1914 and has been present ever since, ruling as King on earth thorugh the Watchtower Society. References to the second "coming" are rendered as "presence" in the Jehovah's Witness Bible. The generation of people who witnessed Christ's invisible return in 1914 will not pass away before Armageddon comes. (See Matt. 24:34

6. Chronology: Jehovah's Witnesses believe that God has a precise timetable for all past and future events, tied together by simple mathmatical formulae and revealed to mankind through the watchtower Society. The seven "days" of the Genesis creation account were each seven thousand years long, for a total "week" of forty-nine thousand years. God created Adam in the year 4026 B,C.. His creation of Eve a short time later marked the end of the Sixth Creative Day and the beginning of the Seventh. therefore, we are now approximately 6,000 years into that 7,000 year period--- which means that Armageddon will soon put an end to 6,000 years of human toil, making way for a Sabbath-like though-year reign of Christ. On the basis of this chronology, the JW organization has promulgated a nuber of specific end-times prophecies.

7. Cross: According to Jehovah's Witnesses, the cross is a pagan religious symbol adopted by the church when Satan, the devil, took control of ecclesiastical authority. It had nothing to do with Christ's death, since JW's maintain that he was nailed to a straight upright pole without a crossbeam. Witnesses abhor the cross, and new convertss are expected to destroy any crosses they may have, rather than simply dispose of them.

8. Deity: The Father alone is God, and true worshipers must call him by the name Jehovah. Witnesses are taught that Jesus Christ was merely a manifestation of Michael the archangel in human form---not God, but a mere created being. The Holy Spirit is presented as neither God nor a person but, rather, as an "active force".

9. disfellowshiping: This is the punishment for any infraction of Watchtower organizational regulations. It consists of a public decree, announced to the audience at a Kingdom Hall meeting and prohibiting all association or fellowship with the offender. Other Witnesses are forbidden even to say "Hello" if they encounter the offender on the street. The only exceptions are that family members may conduct "necessary business" with a disfellowshiped person, and elders may speak to him if he approaches them repentantly to seek reinstatement.

OK, this is half of their major beliefs that I know of. Because it is so long, I will give you the other half tomorrow or when I can get a chance to write them down. When we get to know their beliefs, I will give you some questions and some scripture that they use and scripture you can use to combat their unbelief.